Jaguars claim first-ever victory over St. Mary's

It's not unusual for music to be pulsating from the UHV locker room after a game.

But the sound of laughter hasn't been heard in quite some time.

The Jaguars had reason to celebrate breaking their six-game losing streak, and capturing a milestone win in the process.

UHV defeated St. Mary's for the first time in the program's history, thanks to a 4-1 victory Wednesday night at Riverside Stadium.

"I'm glad for them," said UHV coach Terry Puhl. "They're really a good bunch of guys who really work hard. They give the effort and it's nice for them to be on the right side of the score once in a while."

The Jaguars (10-19) had lost their previous five games against the Rattlers (19-7), but overcame a 1-0 deficit with single runs in the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh innings.

"We played an all-around game today," Puhl said. "That's what we have not been doing. There's always one aspect of the three that doesn't show.

"We gave ourselves more opportunities," he said. "We had like five innings where we had a chance to score a run and we cashed in on a few of them."

Leadoff hitter Stephen Shorkey had two hits to extend his hitting streak to 11 games. He scored the decisive run after singling in the fifth and coming around on an errant throw on Dylan Blaha's sacrifice bunt.

"I like setting the table for the rest of the team," Shorkey said. "If I get on, I know we have good hitters behind to move me over and get me in. That's what it's about."

Robert Gleinser and Robert Zaragoza, who had two RBIs, also had two hits for the Jaguars.

Starting pitcher Orlando Quiroga went six innings before being relieved by Andre Del Bosque, who earned his fifth save.

UHV came into the game after being swept in a pair of doubleheaders by Fisher College and each of the losses was by one run.

Puhl could sense the players' frustration before the game.

"You could feel they were a little tense today," he said. "They were all business. They were out of the locker room early. Even after batting practice, I hardly saw anybody in the locker room, and 15-20 minutes before game time everybody was out of the locker room. You could tell everybody was a little more tense."

The tension began to dissipate when Shorkey's double brought home Gleinser for the third run, and Josh Boothe scored on a single by Zaragoza.

The mood turned ecstatic when Del Bosque got the final out on a grounder back to the mound.

"I think we're going to turn it around right now," Shorkey said. "We got some timely hitting and the pitching has been good all year. We need to keep it rolling."